In this work shop we will learn about impressionistic painting inspired by Vincent Van Gogh. We will do a collaborative mural full of the impressions we feel and see by using paint, textures, and textiles. We’ll start with a brief color study and jump into filling up a canvas in vivid hues and sensational textures from a pre-drawn design. “Impressionism is only direct sensation. All great painters were less or more impressionists. It is mostly a question of instinct.” -Claude Monet.

Pop/ Op Art Hearts: Jim Dine & Bridget RileyLed by Julie Aderhold

Combining the styles of op artist Bridget Riley and pop artist Jim Dine, the students will create brightly colored hearts against a checkerboard background. Expressive complimentary and contrasting colors juxtaposed with black and white patterns will be explored with a heart in the center. A variety of drawing media will be used to create a dynamic heart-shaped design!

Donuts…Thiebaud Style: Wayne ThiebaudLed by Janice Cook

In this workshop, we will reference Thiebaud’s YUMMY desserts paintings to explore color, texture, and patterns! Participants will create their own painting using tempera paints and foam circles in a print method. They will use various media to create the delicious toppings for each donut painting.

Neo-Plastic Magic: Neoplasticism MovementLed by Travis Craig

Inspired by the work of Piet Mondrian (1872-1944) and the Neoplasticism movement, we will examine the beauty in the simplicity of primary colors by designing some of his famous “square” paintings, but with a twist. By changing mediums and using felt, we can explore the decisions artists make regarding influence, materials, and technique: some basic color theory, use of negative space, and curvature versus straight lines in determining what kind of effect the artwork has on the eye.

Pop Art St. Bernard: Andy WarholLed by Jennifer Davis

Andy Warhol was famous for bringing life to ordinary objects, like the Campbell Soup can. His themes opened minds to look for art in everything from magazines and advertisements to labels in grocery stores. During this workshop, children will recreate a diptych of an Andy Warhol screen print using a St. Bernard dog. They will learn painting strokes and color contrasting, stenciling as well as working together as a team.

Photomontage: Romare BeardenLed by Tosha Gaines

This project offers the opportunity to develop skills in the creation of hand generated photomontage, the process Romare Bearden used to create many of his energetic, exiting works of art. Using existing photographic material cut from used books, newspapers, and magazines, the participants in this workshop will collage, rearrange, and overlay multiple images in order to create a range of alternative visual outcomes. The process of producing photomontage by hand, as opposed to using computer software, is very satisfying and therapeutic, providing a more immediate, raw aesthetic to the finished artwork.

Whimsical Animals: Benedetta UbaldiniLed by Reese Hanlin

Have you ever thought about the chicken wire before you throw it away? Benedetta Ubaldini, a London-based artist, uses this chicken wire to craft animals, figures, and a variety of three dimensional sculptures. They form whimsical and unexpected scenes that you would likely see in a children’s book. During this workshop, we will use different textiles to create animals from made forms.

Clay Creatures and Pinch Pots: Frank FlemingLed by Susan Hendley

Frank Fleming is an Alabama based artist known for his whimsical and highly detailed sculptures, often of animals. Using various clay sculpture techniques participants of this workshop will draw inspiration from his art in making their own clay animal creations. In addition, children will learn how to make a perfect pinch pots, use additive and reductive methods, and manipulate the clay surface with carving and impressions.

Electro Robo Monsters: Charlie LucasLed by Taylor Hollingsworth

Channeling Alabama artist, Charlie Lucas, children will make junk art sculpture. They will disassemble old electronics such as VCR’s, radios, and DVD players, etc. Using the assemblage technique the children of this workshop will reassemble the junk electronics and toys to create exciting, stagnant or kinetic, junk art sculptures of a monstrous nature.

Klimt Patterned Mural: Gustav KlimtLed by Ashton Huffstetler

Gustav Klimt was an Austrian symbolist artist known for his murals, full of patterns. For this workshop, children will create several boards of different pattern/ color combinations. We will use our gridded boards to create a massive mural.

Sharpie Galaxy ArtLed by Bella Kimbrough

We will be creating our own galaxies and universes through coloring canvas palettes with Sharpies, adding a little rubbing alcohol and watching chemicals react right in front of our eyes! The Sharpies will melt the colors into each other, creating a beautiful scene that will be topped off with stars, stickers, glitter, and more.

Unified Transitions: Andy GoldsworthyLed by Levi Levinson

Workshop participants are invited to create a positive visual message that will have a large visible impact when brought together in one structure. The individual messages will be created out of paper, then hole-punched and hung in accordance of color to achieve an effect similar to Andy Goldsworthy’s art that transcends a seamless range of natural materials.

Pollock Drip Paintings: Jackson PollockLed by Tangi Lockett

Jackson Pollock was an American painter instrumental in the abstract Expressionist movement! Participants will be introduced to the Jackson Pollock and explore his method of random placed paints. They will create gigantic Pollock ‘drip style’ paintings on rolled paper.

Animal Spirit Mask: Native American ArtLed by Helga Mendoza

Spirit Animal Masks were an important artistic expression for the Native American cultures. These Animal Masks hoped to capture the characteristics of the animals they represented, such as its spirit, its status, and its abilities. Using materials like cardboard, feathers, and natural straw, etc. children will create larger than life masks. This workshop will help children to decode their spirit animal and immortalize the experience creating a mask to represent it.

Dream Catchers: Native American ArtLed by Eugenia Miller

Dream catchers are arts and crafts creations of the Native American people. Their traditions are connected to the night air and gives off good dreams. Participants will design a dream catcher with emphasis on their goals and aspirations in life. Rhythm and movement created by various mixed media will convey ideas, thoughts, and express cultural emphasis.

Fruit Still Life in the style of Yayoi Kusama: Yayoi KusamaLed by Belle Prosser

Yayoi Kusama is a Japanese artist who created minimalist art that informed the Pop Art movement. Working in paint, college, sculpture, and installed spaces, Kusama invented intricate patterns of polka dots that made her work buzz with movement and rhythm. By focusing only on one shape- the polka dot- and on a limited color palette, Kusama gave her viewers an immersive experience that prompted a visceral reaction. In this workshop we will channel the ideas of minimalism, pop art and Kusama’s signature polka dot to create vibrant painted still life’s that each child will be able to take home.

Dadaism Collage: DadaismLed by Cherish Roodhouse

Dadaism is an art movement that developed in the early 20th century that rejected logic and instead expressed art that disassociated itself from tradition. Using a mixture of found text, poetry, space, and self-portraiture, children will create a collaborative collage while expressing themselves freely and exploring the art of the anti-art movement, Dada!

In 1964, the founder of a Finnish home furnishing, textiles, and fashion company, Marimekko, met the woman who would change the company’s outlook on prints and patterns. Maija Isola was known for her bold and innovative textile designs that proved to be both original and timeless. In this workshop, the children will create their own textile prints and patterns on canvas fabric, to make “wall hangings”.

Dali Collage: SurrealismLed by Leah Thornton

Dali (one of the most famous Surrealists) once wrote, ‘I do not understand why, when I ask for a grilled lobster in a restaurant, I am never served a cooked telephone’. Surrealists liked to put objects together that were not normally seen together. Using magazines, students are going to look for strange and interesting images to juxtapose together to compose surrealist collages.

Art is for All: Outsider ArtLed by Miranda Brook Thompson

In the early 1900’s society began to notice brilliant pieces of art coming from unexpected people and places. The art phenomenon was characterized by primarily self-taught artists and artists whose methods were unconventional. In the 1940s, Sean Dubuffet brought these pieces of art out of the streets and hospitals and into art galleries, and 1972, Roger Cardinal coined the phenomenon Outsider Art in part because it has no real place in art history or most art cultures. It is not usually made for the purposes of selling, but more because of the artist’s pure love of making art. Participants will be given a piece of paper and asked to brainstorm an imaginary city inside their mind that is uniquely their own. They will draw the city on their paper and decorate around it according to the description of the city. These pieces will be combined into a multi-media collage. There are no rules, and students are only limited by their minds.

Follow the MovementsLed by Sycamore Toffel

In this workshop, we will move our bodies with soul, creative thinking, and music!

Color, Color, Color: Pablo PicassoLed by Robby Wise

Pablo Picasso taught the world to look at everything we experience as something completely new and abstract. He was able to capture action and emotion through the art movement known as cubism. Along with learning about cubism, participants in this workshop will learn about one of the basic elements of art, color! Through a collaborative mural we will have a crash course, mixing art history and technique as they learn about Picasso and color!

EYEBEAM: THE aMAZEing WALK

From ancient Egyptian to contemporary digital media, mazes reflect the intertwined and cooperative nature of life. A maze is an ancient concept documented as early as 3,000 BC. A maze allows individuals to experience space. Building a mazes require decisive action, critical thinking, and encourages team work. Imagination Festival’s Eyebeam Project will center around a maze installation that will become a physical space that engages students, tells a visual story and conjures beauty, and will be influenced by the oldest known type of maze that was first seen in Crete, the Turf-Maze. The maze will be constructed through units that assemble pathways and links. Children will be encouraged to study the lines, patterns, textures, and repetition in nature as a starting point for their own design interpretations as they build each unit for the installation. Additionally, creative inspiration for these units will be inspired by artists working with pattern and/or in the environment.

EYEBEAM : THE aMAZEing WALK

From ancient Egyptian to contemporary digital media, mazes reflect the intertwined and cooperative nature of life. A maze is an ancient concept documented as early as 3,000 BC. A maze allows individuals to experience space. Building a mazes require decisive action, critical thinking, and encourages team work. Imagination Festival’s Eyebeam Project will center around a maze installation that will become a physical space that engages students, tells a visual story and conjures beauty, and will be influenced by the oldest known type of maze that was first seen in Crete, the Turf-Maze. The maze will be constructed through units that assemble pathways and links. Children will be encouraged to study the lines, patterns, textures, and repetition in nature as a starting point for their own design interpretations as they build each unit for the installation. Additionally, creative inspiration for these units will be inspired by artists working with pattern and/or in the environment. To get more details about the 2017 Eyebeam Project, click here.